On February 27, Natasha Carlish will mark her 40th birthday but she has already received her perfect birthday present. It arrived in the form of the Bafta for Best Short Film at Sunday night's televised ceremony. Staring out into the star-studded audience at the Odeon Leicester Square, she felt a large lump in her throat and blinked back tears of joy. Last year a short film, Bouncer - penned by Coventry writer Geoff Thompson and starring Ray Winstone - was nominated for Best Short Film but failed to pick up the honour. This time, Brown Paper Bag, also written by Thompson with Winstone as executive producer, thrust Ms Carlish and her company, Dreamfinder Productions, into the spotlight. But despite red carpet encounters with Johnny Depp, Benicio del Toro and Anthony Minghella and the glittering after-show party, Ms Carlish was back at her office in Poplar Road, Bearwood, Sandwell, yesterday. With a string of projects from television documentaries to developing future feature films, celebrating all night in London was a no-no. "I don't know why I bothered coming in today because I've not got anything done because the phones have been ringing constantly," she said. "What people don't realise is this didn't happen overnight - making this film has been very tough. It took six months to make but for four weeks, while the film was in pre-production, I was working 20-hour days. "On top of everything else I was scouting locations, organising extras, sorting out actors' accommodation and catering. It really was a hands-on experience. "I'm really very proud of this achievement but it's the result of a lot of hard work and the film was only really made possible by the fact that everyone was working for nothing - nobody got paid." Made on a shoe-string budget of £4,000 - most of which was raised by remortgaging her home in Balsall Heath, Birmingham - the film was shot mainly in Sir Harry's pub, on Pershore Road, with the BBC lending the Doctors set for a hospital scene. Following their success, there is now talk of producing a feature-length version of the story, called Three Sacks Full of Hats. A former King Edward's Camp Hill pupil, Ms Carlish set up Dreamfinder Productions in April 2002 after working freelance on various documentaries. Now she is keen to use the Bafta success to promote the region's burgeoning film industry. "I think this is fantastic because there's so much talent in the West Midlands. It just needs a few people to take a risk and invest in the industry. "Look at what we've managed to achieve with just £4,000 - imagine what else independent film-makers could do with a little bit more money. "This was Dreamfinder's first film and the fact it's won a Bafta is a huge accolade, I just hope we can continue our success." Together with the film's director Michael Baig-Clifford and Mr Thompson, she went on stage as their names were read out as the recipients of the Best Short Film award. Ms Carlish said: "I couldn't believe what was happening, it was surreal. I had a huge lump in my throat but I managed not to cry while we were up there. "I believed 100 per cent in Geoff's script and feel that's been validated now. It was a fantastic night." Despite jumping for joy as he held the golden mask, Mr Thompson admitted he felt he was "a real writer now we've won this award". I'd been bottling up all this excitement for three weeks since the nominations were announced, I had a short speech prepared but that just went out the window when we won," he said. Mr Thompson came up with the idea for Brown Paper Bag while filming Bouncer, after actor Ronnie Fox told him about his experiences with Alcoholics Anonymous. "He was very open about it. He explained he wasn't tramp-like, drinking white cider in a park, so I said I could write a great script around those for him," he said. "I'd worked as a club doorman for ten years, which is where the germ of Bouncer came from, but I also saw a lot of alcoholics who were in denial. So I brought these elements together. I feel like a real writer now we've won - before I felt I was blagging it. "Natasha loved the script but we couldn't get funding for it so she remortgaged her house. That's how much she believed in this project." | 
